In Perpetuum
by Billieboy
Summary: Post BD canon one shot.  The first thousand years of forever.


My eyes ached to see what was. I closed them to the vast blue and concentrated on my scent memory of pine and moss. Visions of our family playing in the lush green grass behind the Forks mansion shortly after my change flitted behind my lids. Renesmee laughing and leaping from tree to glorious tree as her father and uncles traipsed behind her echoed in my ear.

_Mmmmm that was a beautiful time love._ His arms tightened around my waist. I laid my head back against his chest, placing my arms over his. His, mine, ours, we were truly one, my Edward and I. It wasn't long after that particular memory that we began discovering how much more there was to us.

I learned my shield had yet another layer to it and I began deflecting physically as well. I learned to open my mind to him, but in extension so did he. After one hundred years of non-change Edward soon developed the ability to now speak as well as listen in others minds. Eventually our thoughts, energies, and abilities flowed equally between us; we could readily use each other's abilities. Carlisle had always speculated that it was a combination of Edward's will power and my stubbornness paired with the singer being changed by her mate. We never questioned why, it just was; it was just us. The two most powerful vampires on earth.

Together we watched the waves as the minute tide brought them closer to the base of the watchtower. I watched through my loves eyes as he visually pinpointed the exact coordinates of my first home as a vampire, now under ten meters of seawater. I had long forgotten my human life, but I thankfully could see Edward's memories of my human parents and some of my human experiences. No picture or media devise could ever compare to vampire memory, I had the perfect recording within him. He nuzzled his beautiful face into my neck.

I of course had my vampire memories of Charlie and Renee until their passing. Renee was first, not a year after our marriage, her and Phil died in a car accident outside of Boston. Phil had become a high school baseball coach and had taken a position there. One icy night before Christmas, a drunk driver decided, far too late for Alice to intervene, to cross the center line. They both died on impact and for that I was grateful. She had never known I hadn't died in our façade to keep the secret. She had never known the beauty and joy of her granddaughter. It was the first loss of many to come.

_They are waiting for us, love. _

_Walk with me a moment more._ I sighed. He spun me around to face him. He was more beautiful to me now than he ever had been. I wanted to apologize for having thoughts of the past. His eyes told me there was no need for apologies; he just wanted to take away the pain. Always taking care of me; always loving me.

_I do._

_As do I. _

He cupped my face and brought his lips to mine. We melded together and I was brought into our sanctuary. As our kiss ended he brought me into his side with one arm around my shoulder. He led me as we walked a promenade around the watchtower one more time before we would have to turn inside and meet with our fate.

The watchtower was the highest structure on Olympus Island; we could see for miles and miles. Thirty miles to the west you could see the mainland of what used to be Washington State. She had been severely charred and damaged when the Ring of Fire let loose after the asteroid. The Cascade Volcanic Arc spanning from northern California to the base of British Columbia, Canada, contained twenty massive volcanoes and over 4000 volcanic vents. After the tsunamis and fire storms the west coast of the United States was all but demolished.

That was the beginning of the dark times. I've replayed that day, every day, only to have the same results. I had only seen the wonders of fate until that day. Now I know there is a dark side to fate as well.

The asteroid was cataclysmic not apocalyptic. It hit just off the coast of Japan and instantly vaporized everything within a three hundred mile radius. The firestorm swept the eastern coastline of Asia not stopping till the middle of Europe.

Edward had managed to grab Charlie and Sue, who was with him at the time, and met us at the runway outside Forks before the first earthquake hit. Jacob was with Nessie as always. We were airborne before the tsunami hit. They were the only three humans that survived from the Olympic Peninsula. The entire Denali clan was visiting friends in China at the time and was lost in the fire storm.

The first few years were harsh, the ash darkened the sky and we were thrown into perpetual winter. We maintained a base camp high in the Colorado Rockies where we found sustenance for us and our human family to survive.

We later came to find out almost fifty percent of life on earth had been destroyed and almost eighty percent of the human population. The remaining twenty percent slowly began killing themselves with riots and pillaging. With few humans as a food source regular vampires began fighting amongst themselves making the southern wars look civil.

I lost Charlie ten years post asteroid. What was once the abbreviation for the town down the highway from Forks now represented a mark in time, P.A. Disease spread through the human population killing the elderly and young. Charlie had insisted on helping Carlisle with all his vain efforts with the humans, but he ended up contracting the plague anyway.

I was numb for so long that I barely registered when Sue had succumbed as well. The wars escaladed and now it was the vampires turn to experience great loss as well. This was the way for the next five hundred years. We scavenged wildlife, fought for our lives on a daily basis. This is what our beautiful girl grew up in.

It turns out that although Jacob was a shape shifter he was also very much human. He and Nessie had married not long after PA and loved hard. After two hundred years his body began to fail. He still looked every bit a twenty five year old but metabolically his tissues and cells began to degenerate. We buried him under the ocean next to his pack on Quileute land. Our daughter a shell.

In 487 PA, the remaining members of the Volturi called upon us to form a new alliance, a treaty they called it. They claimed they wanted us to help with the peace keeping, to assure no new vampires were created, to help distinguish territorial boundaries. They lied.

They took Carlisle and Esme executioner style without a moment's thought or pause, rendering Edward and Alice useless. The devastation sank us all to our knees. Instinctually I wrapped my body around Renesmee as Edward crouched before us in defense. Emmett was taken before my shield had wrapped around him. Rose and Jasper begged and screamed to be released to they could fight, so they could redeem and avenge, so they could die.

When Edward had grabbed my hand in that lowest second of despair, our pain and anger surged. Five hundred years of suffering and the loss of our parents, two brothers and sister in one moment culminated into the darkest power. To this day we are unsure of what exactly happened but the result was clear. There was nothing outside my shield left alive for miles. The only evidence that there had been was the sickening purple haze of vampire cremation.

Alice never spoke out loud again. Even her mind was a jumbled mix to us. She never blamed me, although I was at fault. I didn't protect us all fast enough. Edward to this day says I was not; it's hard to believe otherwise. Fifty three years later she escaped my watch and ran directly into an open fire pit. The last thing we heard from her mind was. '_Thank you, I love you both, take care of Nessie. Jasper, I'm coming.'_

The earth slowly healed itself. There was very little evidence of cities or large structures now. Animal life flourished and so did our diets. Edward was adamant that we persevere what was left of humanity's history. We spent most of our time archiving and sealing up troves of documents, works of art, and historical treasures. We searched the globe. Our only transportation being our feet and a cargo boat that we maintained.

By the 700's there were less than two dozen vampires, and only a human population of thirty thousand. The remaining vampires had turned vegetarian not only by necessity but also because of their increasing awareness and sympathy for the fragility of humanity.

There were three main communities, one in the heart of North America, and one each in Europe and Asia. There were some small villages in Africa and South America as well.

In 840 PA Edward, Nessie and I traveled South America to again check on populations and to offer assistance as we could. Edward had schooled both Renesmee and me in human medical practices and we were quite proficient. Vampires were no secret and hadn't been for some time. It was here we found a barely alive Nahuel. He had been feeding on village members for years until they found a way to entrap him. They had contained him in a cell with walls of fire fueled by a natural gas line. They only fed him small rodents once a month. He was beyond weak.

We negotiated with minimal show of ability his release and promised he would never hunt their village again. Edward and I watched, sometimes with humor, for the next fifty years as Nahuel courted our daughter. Though Nessie loved Jacob with all her heart she was not imprinted on him as he was her, we were convinced she could love again. She would never forget him but eventually she opened her heart to mate with the only half vampire left in existence.

Edward was beside himself and knee deep in medical journals when our daughter had come to us with symptoms; there was no prescient. After nine hundred years of marriage Edward and I were to become first time grandparents….to twins.

Jace Charles and Emlyn Carlisle Cullen were born without complication on May 8th, 898 PA or 2910 AD. They were Cullens through and through. Jace was as calm and cool as his namesake great uncle with Edward's brilliant green human eyes. Emlyn was as wild a child as I could have imagined Emmett was. He had his mothers and my deep brown eyes but his grandfathers unruly hair. Both boys were a beautiful bronze thanks to their father's genetics. The boys in every way resembled their half vampire parents in strength and development. Both boys were blessed with abilities. Jace was able to speak to anyone in their head, anywhere, and Emlyn was a physical shield. Though not as strong as Edwards and my own abilities, we were happy that they had yet another something from each of us.

More surprises came our way the decade following the birth of the twins. The first one was Esmeralda Alice, (Ellie) who was born five years after her brothers. She was the spitting image of her mother which made Edward's and my dead hearts thump again. She was every bit the bouncing tornado of her great aunt. She had her parents, her brothers and her grandparents at her beckon call. And we loved it.

The second surprise came when our friend Garrett came to visit. He had finally mated and to a human. Knowing our story they had attempted to conceive prior to her change and were successful. The pair brought their precocious Katelyn with them. Ellie and she became fast friends.

Within the next fifty years we heard the remaining male vampires had also found human mates. Edward believes it was evolutionary driven. I'm not sure what I believe but there were nine more half vampire births. Two were twin girls born to one of the Asiatic nomads whom our grandsons fell head over heels in love with and eventually supplied us with our first great grandchildren.

Three hundred years later we were grandparents to over one hundred Cullen prodigies; we no longer counted the greats; all were pure half bloods. Life was slowly rebuilding.

A small flurry of red crashed into our legs. We looked down into the green eyes of our youngest great, great grandchild, they were rimmed with tears.

I stooped down to wipe her tears as she played back the scenario of her last five minutes in pictures for us.

_Mia child, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Sometimes boys can be…..obtuse._ My husband raised his eyebrows at me as he gathered the fiery red head in his arms and cradled her.

"Grand Pere what is 'obtuse'?" Her little lip quivered.

_In this case, Mia baby, it means that Alger was insensitive to your feelings. He probably just didn't realize that making a decision that affected you without your input was taking away your choices._

_Good lord Edward, she's four._ "Mia, march your pretty self back in there and tell him he was being obtuse and order whatever flavor ice cream _you_ want. Let him figure out what it means." Her smile widened. She leaned over in her grandfathers arms to give me a wet kiss on the cheek before giving Edward the same. As soon as he set her on the ground she was off and running.

_I'll show you an obtuse angle later, my minx._ I laughed as he tickled my sides. Over a thousand years and my Edward and I still couldn't keep our hands off of each other. We had more passion and intimacy than ever.

_Let's get this over with_. I sighed. We took each other's hand and entered the large marble room at the center of the watchtower. Edward led me up the steps of the raised platform and delivered me to the insanely ornate chair. He stepped to the left and sat in a slightly larger match to my own.

_Seriously Edward, the chairs have got to go. _ _It's bad enough we're in this position in the first place. I don't like all the pomp and circumstance. _He gave me a little smirk.

_It's not my style either sweetheart, you know that. _

I felt like whining more, but I held off. This was the beginning again. We were the logical choice. I suddenly felt guilty for even being here and in this position. We were the only original members of our family left. It didn't feel right trivializing their memory with selfish whims. I just didn't understand why it had to be us.

_Bella, you and I are the most powerful creatures on this earth. We do our lost ones proud by leading with all the things that made them each so special; to carry on their legacy so that humanity can survive and hopefully thrive again. Let us start them off right. _

I packed away my selfishness for the day and smiled lovingly at my husband as a large staff smacked hard on the tile by the door. I gave a small smile to Felix who opened the large wooden door and two sixteener males entered the chamber. I mentally slapped myself for mentally using the derogatory term 'sixteener' which was used for one that was 1/16th vampire. Almost everyone alive now had vampire blood. Only the half-bloods were immortal like their parents. The others however lived very long healthy lives. With the mingling of the races species came some prejudices which could only be charged to human nature. We were quick to nip that in the rear.

They walked to within twenty feet both with wide eyes of wonder and awe. I jumped into the taller one via Edward to see what he saw. There Edward and I sat in a room with filtered sunlight that allowed prisms of light to be thrown from our perfect skin. We looked every bit the seventeen and eighteen year olds we physically were. Through his eyes we appeared devastatingly beautiful and flawless.

They were here over a dowry dispute. _Oh come on Edward…dowries….seriously_? _Rose would be pitching a fit right now. Alice would invent a new power salute for women's lib. Hell, Esme would burn her bra, again._ Edward winked.

The men quickly bowed. I did an internal eye roll only to receive a mental poke in the side from my husband.

"Your majesties, King Edward and Queen Isabella, we …


End file.
